After we win, let us wage peace and serve the Greater Good

[omega minimo]

“Those who love peace must learn to organize as well as those who love war. “

“True peace is not merely the absence of tension, it is the presence of justice.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.

We have been beaten up by the bullies with the blunt objects of fear and divisiveness. We are tired and we are angry. We are motivated to show up in numbers that overwhelm the ability of illegal and underhanded tactics to steal our votes. We have been bullied and ripped off for how long-- 6 years, 12 years, 26 years, 43...?

No matter how long ago we woke up the the truth about the Big Lie being perpetrated on the American People, we know it is time to take our country back. We know that many attempts will be made to steal another election -- these efforts are already being reported.

We know we are in a battle for our lives and for the survival of a democracy in the U.S.A. Are we willing to fight for the core of our nation with soul and not hatred? The hatemongers have made religion a battleground, our bodies a battleground. We can work for change without letting them fill our spirits and our lives with their venom.

We have had to withstand an unprecedented assault of propaganda, mindbending lies and venal behavior. The head hatemonger, the sour dough starter from which all the rancid loaves of Right Wing Daily Bread are baked, Rush Limbaugh started his career in a state capital market where listeners considered him “funny” and “entertaining.” Somewhere along the line, folks started taking Limbaugh’s schtick seriously and unimaginable damage has been done to this nation and its people. Lately, it’s apparent that Limbaugh, Coulter, O’Lielly and their ilk, really are an inside joke, laughing all the way to the bank. David Letterman called their bluff when O’Lielly was on his show, after a week of truly insane and over-the-top nonsensical comments from the hate team cheerleaders.

So do we still have sense of humor, a sense of perspective, a sense of humanity, after the Hate Industry has taken over our airwaves and our government? When we win, what next? What sort of nation are we going to re-create?

Will we continue in the direction of Us vs. Them which the fear/hatemongers have fostered so successfully? Or will we return to the fundamental values of this united nation-- of a Commonwealth, with common rights and common responsibilities?

Democracy is not a brand. Democracy is not a spectator sport. After we reclaim our country, we will have the opportunity to redefine this nation-- continuing a toxic pattern of divisiveness and fear or with a renewed commitment to liberty for all.

:thumbsup:

“Character is blazing sunshine in the soul’s abode, the body.       
A perfect society is built upon mutual trust. Character is the source of that trust.            
Character is just what we inwardly are and outwardly do.         
The secret of inner success is constancy to our highest character.” --Sri Chinmoy 

===

“Our new perceptions are that the Universe is alive, wise, and compassionate. It is a friendly place, not the violent, merciless place that we have often made our small part of it. Our new values are the values of the soul – harmony, cooperation, sharing, and reverence for Life. Our new goals are authentic power – the alignment of the personality with the soul – and a planet without conflict.” --Gary Zukav

===

“Character matters; leadership descends from character.” --Rush Limbaugh 
 
===

“The time is always right to do what is right.” --Martin Luther King Jr. 

[melissinha]

1. Amen

right on!

Take a page from Senatorial Candidate Ford, be clean and don't stoop to their level.

[omega minimo]

3. Tell it!

That's what Obama did at the Dem Convention in 2004-- remind folks we are a nation, all in this together, and look at the response that got! How did we let the hatemongers take away our sense of ourselves as Americans?



($$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$)

[H2O Man]

2. Yes.

Within You, Without You
George Harrison

We were talking - about the space between us all
And the people - who hide themselves behind a wall of illusion
Never glimpse the truth - then it's far too late when they pass away

We were talking - about the love we all could share
When we find it - to try our best to hold it there - with our love
With our love we could save the world - if they only knew

Try to realise it's all within yourself - no-one else can make you change
And to see you're really only very small
And life flows on within you and without you.

We were talking - about the love that's gone so cold
And the people who gain the world and lose their soul
They don't know, they can't see - are you one of them ?

When you've seen beyond yourself
then you may find peace of mind is waiting there
And the time will come when you see we're all one
And life flows on within you and without you.

[omega minimo]

4. !

:toast: :grouphug:

[omega minimo]

5. By hijacking religion, the Hate Wing disctracts us from Soul

(folks-- it doesn't matter what you call It or if you think there is no It, there's only this.............:hi: )


Awaiting On You All
by George Harrison

You don't need no love in
You don't need no bed pan
You don't need a horoscope or a microscope
The see the mess that you're in
If you open up your heart
You will know what I mean
We've been polluted so long
Now here's a way for you to get clean

By chanting the names of the lord and you'll be free
The lord is awaiting on you all to awaken and see
Chanting the names of the lord and you'll be free
The lord is awaiting on you all to awaken and see

You don't need no passport
And you don't need no visas
You don't need to designate or to emigrate
Before you can see Jesus
If you open up your heart
You'll see he's right there
Always was and will be
He'll relieve you of your cares

By chanting the names of the lord and you'll be free
The lord is awaiting on you all to awaken and see
Chanting the names of the lord and you'll be free
The lord is awaiting on you all to awaken and see

You don't need no church house
And you don't need no Temple
You don't need no rosary beads or them books to read
To see that you have fallen
If you open up your heart
You will know what I mean
We've been kept down so long
Someone's thinking that we're all green

And while the Pope owns 51% of General Motors
And the stock exchange is the only thing he's qualified to quote us
The lord is awaiting on you all to awaken and see
By chanting the names of the lord and you'll be free

[smoogatz]

6. I respectfully disagree.

I believe that what passes for conservatism these days is just plain old fascism in a bad toupee and flag lapel pin. Fascism has always had a place in the hearts of 20-30% of the American electorate, who are happy to consistently vote against their own economic interests as long the Republo-fascists promise to keep Jesus in the schools and the least-fashionable-minority of the day in its place. Meanwhile, the big corporations that drive the Republo-fascist agenda rake in the benefits of deregulation and gigantic government giveaways in the form of tax cuts and no-bid contracts. Meanwhile, the Republo-fascists themselves find new ways to frighten and intimidate the people in order to maintain their hold on power. I say, if we beat them let's keep beating them until they stop twitching. Let's drive a stake through the ugly, oil-greased heart of Republo-fascism and kill it once and for all. When they're down, kick them in the teeth. Then kick them again for good measure. Otherwise we'll have to deal with their bullshit every election cycle for the rest of our lives, and the thought of that prospect fills me with the same mixture of rage and revulsion I felt when Bush stole the election in 2000 (oh no, not this shit again!). No compromise, no quarter, no letting up. The stakes are too high.

[DaveJ]

9. I partially agree...

What I think we agree on is that the Republican Party needs to become extinct and I agree that the economy and corporations need major reform.

But I think our main focus should be on real freedom, peace and happiness, so that people know what the advantages are of living in a civilized world, so that eventually people will be no more likely to vote Republican than for the Fascist party.

[smoogatz]

11. 20-30% would vote for the Fascist Party if they promised to ban

abortion, teach the Bible in public schools, shoot illegal immigrants and throw gay people in jail. Why do they think that stuff is so important? The short answer is that the commercial interests that profit from our current "soft fascist" form of government tell them to. The long answer is that we've been trying to do education on the cheap for generations in this country, resulting in the utter inability of a big chunk of our population to think critically about anything they see on TV.

[hfojvt]

28. none of that is fascism, per se, and it is not pushed by the M$M

unless you count TBN.

If you look at three of those that you mentioned - abortion illegal, Bible in public schools, and gay sex being illegal (and gay people thrown in closets). All of that describes America from about 1650-1950.

I think it is more of a takeover of the media than it is about a change in the public's ability to think critically. You cannot think critically if you are only hearing one side. But other than non-voters, the group that gave the election to George W. Bush was - people over 65. Younger people (under 30) voted for Kerry about 60-40.

[omega minimo]

13. I respectfully agree

Can we do all that-- without hatred? with soul? Does it damage us to become so used to withstanding the constant assualt of lies and hatred that we forget there's another way to be?

Your sigline-- Sinclair Lewis wrote his novels how long ago? "Fascism comes wrapped in a flag" and it doesn't happen over night. If we were willing to take a soulful, Common Good, or __fill__in__the__blank approach, we might reflect on our part in letting this happen.

You have a good grasp on the situation. Have you read Tom Frank? The truth is, we can't just point the finger at others if we are part of (and most of us are to some degree or another) the __% that let this happen. "....the Fascism has always had a place in the hearts of 20-30% of the American electorate, who are happy to consistently vote against their own economic interests as long" as they're comfortable and can fill the gas tank. A lot of those folks are Democrats, Republicans, whoever......

No one wants to talk about this. That's fine. I bring it up in the context of taking a humane approach to all of us caught in the same hijacked boat and an affirmative approach to changing course.

[smoogatz]

14. I hate fascism with a pure and liberating white hot hate.

I think it's the greatest threat to the survival of civilization as we know it. I hate fascism and I hate fascists, and I think it's way too late to be nice about it. I don't think being nice to fascists has gotten us anywhere, and it isn't likely to get us anywhere in the future except maybe stuck in a KBR detention camp in South Dakota. I think our country has been taken over by genuinely evil people; the only proper response to that is to work tirelessly for justice, which in this case would amount to lengthy prison terms for a whole lot of Republicans. Lock them up and throw away the key--if you want to do it humanely, that's fine. But let's agree to do it.

[omega minimo]

16. Why do you hate them more than the comfy, cozy, dozing sheeple?

that Sinclair Lewis, Orwell and others warned about (both) decades ago?

"I hate fascism and I hate fascists, and I think it's way too late to be nice about it. I don't think being nice to fascists has gotten us anywhere, and it isn't likely to get us anywhere in the future except maybe stuck in a KBR detention camp in South Dakota."

Who said anything about being nice about fascism? :wow: You know who has been "nice about fascism"? The American public that sit by and watch in stupification and apathy while their nation is disassembled.

:hi:

We let them divide us from each other. Americans need to start caring about someone other than themselves, their little cocoon and their gas tank.

:patriot:

[smoogatz]

18. They don't know any better.

They're ignorant suckers who know nothing about history or economics. They don't know a fascist from a socialist from an Islamist. You can't hate them for that--but you can hate the people who intentionally mislead them for nefarious purposes. Hate the con-man, not the victim of the con.

[omega minimo]

19. Sure they do. They is us

There is no real bogeyman to blame all this on. No total moran out there that absolves us of our responsibility to pay attention and prevent this evil.

Look around. What percentage of any gathering of Americans anywhere has lifted a finger to prevent this takeover in the past, say, 26 years since Reagan started it?

[smoogatz]

21. The hell they are.

"They" are big oil, big pharma, big credit, the electric power industry and the defense industry, and they reap a windfall every time the Republicans take power. That's your bogeyman, and it's as real as the day is long. Now they run the media, too. It's in their interests to keep Americans as dumb as possible. Why do you think wingnuts hate public funding of education at any level?

[omega minimo]

22. Yes I agreed with you when you said that before and

"you have a good grasp on the situation."

The success of consolidated media and public miseducation has served the intended purpose and created the braindead public that I am pointing out is not all fundie morans or dittoheads................. that's why I said "look around."

"Fascism has always had a place in the hearts of 20-30% of the American electorate, who are happy to consistently vote against their own economic interests as long the Republo-fascists promise to keep Jesus in the schools and the least-fashionable-minority of the day in its place."

You have every right to your anger-- I'm not trying to tell people how to feel about this. What I tried to point out to you is that that vision of a (faceless, generic, anonymous) "20-30%" who "Fascism has always had a place in the hearts of" doesn't account for the "____% of the American electorate, who are happy to consistently vote against their own economic interests as long the Republo-fascists promise to keep" gas in their tanks, distractions on TV and stuff to buy in the stores.

That IS us too. Some of us. :evilgrin: Not others.

[endarkenment]

26. What smoogatz said.

First we have to have the modern equivalent of il Dunce hanging upside down from a telephone post, then we can talk about truth and reconciliation.

[omega minimo]

27. See that goes right back to the sheeple problem

We have some responsibility for LIHOP. Like it or not. I wasn't gonna press the point-- no one will touch it. But violence as a solution is insane.


We need our Constitution restored, not our lamp posts decorated.

[smoogatz]

29. I'd settle for impeachment, followed by imprisonment.

With a little frog-marching in between.

[DaveJ]

7. That will be no problem

After we are back in control the relief will be like removing a noose. We've had no Democracy for a long time. It will be a whole new experience for a lot of people.

[spoony]

8. Pleased to k and r! :)

[Ohio Joe]

10. OK, but...

There will certainly have to be a number of trials that occur in order for us to wage peace and serve the greater good.

[SammyWinstonJack]

12. I'm all for that!

[porphyrian]

15. Yeah, I'll kick that. - n/t

[omega minimo]

17. !

:loveya:

[warrens]

20. After the horsewhipping and waterboarding, of course nt

[leftofthedial]

23. after we win

AND we serve a big steaming helping of justice to the fascist criminals

then we can do your touchy feely thing.

[omega minimo]

24. Was MLK "touchy feely"?

[leftofthedial]

25. he was articulate

and he's dead

[applegrove]

30. Beautiful words. Especially: "After we reclaim our country,

we will have the opportunity to redefine this nation". Thanks.:hi:

[omega minimo]

31. Cheers applegrove. it may be a shock to switch modes

We may as well envision what we do want as much as we know what we don't.

:toast:

I like what Hartmann says about "making a rapid and radical return to the values that made this country great."

[Laelth]

32. As much as I might like to be vindictive ...

... and as much as I might want to sacrifice some other priorities to see justice done and see a bunch of criminals tried at The Hague, I am afraid that we (liberals) can't help but be who we are. We will work for the common good, even if it means sacrificing the vengeance we so richly deserve.

:patriot:

-Laelth

[omega minimo]

33. Our "vengeance" will be PAYING ATTENTION the next time they try to pull this

if we can

:hi: